SMAC tennis champions crowned

Last week amid the diminishing daylight on the third day of the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference tennis championships, Huntingtown High School senior Bella White and sophomore teammate Lucy Staley successfully defended their SMAC girls’ doubles title of a year ago and marked the beginning of the coronation of conference champions.

Like their contemporaries in both singles events and the various doubles events, White and Staley arrived at North Point on May 8 hoping to depart with a title before sunset. In a match that played out along similar lines in both sets, White and Staley combined to defeat Leonardtown’s Julia Andaya and Gretchen Fleck in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, as dusk delayed the outcomes of the other titles.

“Last year, I was looking for a really good doubles partner and Lucy stepped up even as a freshman,” said White, a Hurricanes’ senior who had played mixed doubles with her brother Brady White during her freshmen season. “She’s a really strong player and we just clicked on the court right from the first match.”

“I’ve really enjoyed playing these last two seasons with Bella,” Staley said. “She’s a great all-around player and we communicate well on the court, which is the main key to winning. I think we gained a little more confidence playing together as the match went on.”

While the girls’ doubles championship was the only one to conclude as scheduled May 8 as dusk arrived, the other quartet of titles were determined the next day.

When the dust finally settled following the finals on May 9, Leonardtown emerged with the overall team title with 33 points, followed by La Plata (28), Great Mills (23), Huntingtown (16) and McDonough (12) to round out the top five. Chopticon (10) and Northern (10) tied for sixth, followed by Westlake (8), Lackey (6), Calvert (5), North Point (5) and Patuxent (5) tied for 10th, followed by St. Charles (4) and Thomas Stone (1).

Fittingly, Leonardtown collected a pair of tournament titles last week. Jacob Farren defeated Westlake’s David Yum to capture the boys’ singles crown while the Raiders’ Ally Dusch took the girls’ singles title with her victory over La Plata’s Isabella Hunt. Yum had defeated La Plata’s King Herald Nacua in the conclusion of their prolonged semifinal match earlier that day.

McDonough’s Noah Cusack and Chris Jozwik combined to take the boys’ doubles title by edging Great Mills’ tandem of Jayden Davis and Evan Walsh. The Hornets’ mixed doubles combination of Leslie Pope and Ethan Torgesen prevailed by besting Leonardtown’s Yasmeen Bouhussein and Adam Labows.